Revenge of the Sith: AngryVader's Log

Training Training Logs
541

[quote]SSC wrote:
pushmepullme wrote:
SSC - check out the MD link AV posted. After Kai finishes singing about McDonald’s, and you see the “up the ass” camera angle of him on the stair machine, he does some Jefferson squats.

I’ve never tried them, but they do look interesting. I’d like to get more glute activation as well. I’d worry that my arms are too short. :slight_smile:

Haha, thanks. They look pretty cool… (And wierd?!)

If I get strange looks in the gym just from deadlifts and deep squats, I can only imagine the kind of stares I would get if I tried those! Hahahaha…[/quote]

You could always try dumbbells, I suppose. That might cut down on their weird stares a bit.

Another thing, especially for your short armed folks, you could also try doing them off pins in the rack. I actually did my first few warmup sets off the lowest set of pins to get used to the movement. As the weight gets up there, I could see doing that more often.

542

Friday 02/27 - Chest and Shoulders

Neutral Grip DB Press: 90 x 8, 95 x 8,8,8,8

Neutral Grip Incline DB Press: 75 x 8, 80 x 8, 85 x 8, 80 x 8, 85 x 7

Pec Dec Machine: 105 x 8,9,8,8

Neutral Grip Seated DB Press: 55 x 8, 60 x 6,6,8
Seated Laterals: 27.5 x 12,12,12,15

Incline Laterals: 15 x 12,12,15, 17.5 x 15

The shoulder felt pretty good today. Hopefully I can build on that and finally start getting the weight back up there.

543

I tried those Jefferson squats today. Interesting, but I definitely felt like I didn’t have the form down. I did them with just the bar. I’ll play around with them some more, but I felt like I got more booty work with plie squats.

My arms were long enough, thank goodness. My concern wasn’t ever getting down to the bar - it was inseminating myself with it (you never know what you’ll find at the gym!).

544

Thanks for the info, Vader.

I’m writing those into my next program so I can better ‘recruit the glute’ in complex movements.

That and I like oddball exercises that work.

545

Saturday 02/28 - Back, Rear Delts

Worked out early this morning, but I immediately went to Wonder-Con after, so this is first chance I’ve had to post.

Pulldowns: 220 x 5,5,5,5,5, 230 x 5

One Arm HS High Row: 150 x 6, 155 x 6,6, 160 x 6,6

One Arm HS Seated Row: 150 x 8, 155 x 8,8,8

Incline DB Shrugs: 105 x 8,8,8,6

Rear Delt Machine: 150 x 8, 155 x 8,8,8

I’m probably going to train legs tomorrow cause I have my MRI on Monday, so I skipped the calf training today.

546

How was Wonder-Con?

547

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
How was Wonder-Con?[/quote]

See my posts in the Geek S**t 2.0 thread.

548

[quote]AngryVader wrote:
pushmepullme wrote:
How was Wonder-Con?

See my posts in the Geek S**t 2.0 thread.[/quote]

As soon as it updates…fuckers…

549

Sunday 03/01 - Quads and Calves

So I did my leg workout a day early because this week is going to be weird for time and I have the MRI tomorrow.

I didn’t perform as well as I hoped though. I also tried to do some Front Squats to start the workout, but they just didn’t feel right. Oh well.

Smith Split Squat: 135 x 5,5,5,5,5,5 - My glutes are still firing like crazy on these.

Leg Press: 450 x 28 reps x 2:00 min, 28 reps x 2:00, 29 reps x 2:00 min - Fuck! Shitty performance on these.

Leg Extension: 140 x 20,18,17
Bodyweight Squats (superset with Leg Extensions): 20,20,20 - Just trying anything at this point.

Standing Calf Raise: 500 x 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6

Seated Calf Raise: 95 x 30,26,26
Front Calf Raise: 95 x 15,13,14
Garhammer Raise: 8,8,8

550

Wow.

Jefferson squats it is. I need more glute activation for sure.

So, would you say the position of your knees as you are sitting ‘in the bucket’ make your thighs form a 90 degree angle? That’s what it looks like in the video.

551

Sorry to see you had a weird workout. Good luck with the MRI.

552

[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:
Wow.

Jefferson squats it is. I need more glute activation for sure.

So, would you say the position of your knees as you are sitting ‘in the bucket’ make your thighs form a 90 degree angle? That’s what it looks like in the video.[/quote]

When you’re sitting in the bucket, for me anyway, my thighs are parallel to the ground. Maybe even a bit lower.

553

03/02 - MRI Arthrogram

So no training today because of the MRI. It went well. They basically numbed my shoulder and then stuck a needle about as far as they could into my shoulder as they injected the dye in. It didn’t feel all that bad even though the numbing agent didn’t work that deep.

They were taking x-rays as the dye was moving around my system and it was weird to see each x-ray change.

Then, I had the actual MRI. She said it was going to take 40 minutes, but it felt like I was in the machine for only about 15 minutes. Kind of hard to keep track of time when all you are thinking about is breathing and not moving.

I kept hoping some kind of lab accident was going to occur when I was in the MRI machine. Cause, you know, that’s how super powers happen sometimes. In lab accidents.

My shoulder felt a little weird after, especially after the numbing agent wore off. Kind of hard to describe. Like inflammation and tightness, but deep within the joint. Fortunately, I don’t think it’s going to prevent me from any other kind of training the rest of the week.

In fact, I felt well enough once I got home to do 15 minutes on the bike and then about 15 minutes of yoga.

Not sure when I get the results, but I’m sure I’ll hear something within a week or so and be sure to post about them here.

554

[quote]AngryVader wrote:
I kept hoping some kind of lab accident was going to occur when I was in the MRI machine. Cause, you know, that’s how super powers happen sometimes. In lab accidents.
[/quote]

Vader = Doc Manhattan.

Edit: Damn, I just saw that I’m not the first one to make that joke.

555

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
AngryVader wrote:
I kept hoping some kind of lab accident was going to occur when I was in the MRI machine. Cause, you know, that’s how super powers happen sometimes. In lab accidents.

Vader = Doc Manhattan.

Edit: Damn, I just saw that I’m not the first one to make that joke.[/quote]

Yeah, my friends on Facebook beat you to the punch.

556

Tuesday 03/03 - Arms

RGBP (Smith): 245 x 8,8,8,8, 250 x 8

PJR Pullover: 100 x 8,8,6,6

One Arm Machine Tri Extension: 70 x 15, 75 x 15, 80 x 15, 90 x 12

DB Preacher Curl: 45 x 8,8,8,8

DB Hammer Curl: 55 x 8,8, 60 x 7,6

One Arm Machine Bicep Curl: 80 x 12,12,12,12

My concern about my shoulder being weird after the MRI-A ended up not being an issue at all (the doctor really overstated that, didn’t he?). It felt totally fine today. In fact, I had a pretty good workout today and I think I might have finally had one of those ‘Leucine pumps’ that people have talked about. I’ve been taking Leucine for a few weeks now, but never really noticed anything. Today, however, about halfway through my workout, I started getting a wicked pump in my arms. Felt great!

557

Thursday 03/05 - Hams and Calves

Jefferson Squats: 135 x 6,6,6, 145 x 6,6, 155 x 6 - Felt a ton better this time. Really tried to force my knees out this time on each rep and I think that really made a difference.

Lying Leg Curl: 165 x 5,5,5,5,5

RDL: 225 x 10, 235 x 10,10, 245 x 10 - Tweaked my back a bit again, but they felt fine otherwise. It actually felt like my glutes and hams were doing the work on these again.

Leg Press Calf Raise: 560 x 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6

Seated Calf Raise: 105 x 30,30,30
Side Bends: 45 x 10,10,10

558

So I heard back from my Ortho today regarding the MRI. There is definitely a labrum tear in there. He said it didn’t appear to be a severe tear though.

I have a surgical consult in a few weeks to discuss options and he put in a referral to start seeing physical therapy again.

He did say that if the pain is getting better and my strength is coming back, then perhaps I can get away with just physical therapy. He that since it wasn’t a bad tear, that it was really up to me and how bad the symptoms are.

559

You seem to have made good progress without the surgery, but how do you feel about your current situation?

Do you feel like surgery would give a better outcome in the long term?

I may be asking these questions too early, as you haven’t had your surgical consult yet.

I guess just keep us posted, Vader.

Good to hear it’s not a major tear!

560

[quote]Flow wrote:
You seem to have made good progress without the surgery, but how do you feel about your current situation?

Do you feel like surgery would give a better outcome in the long term?

I may be asking these questions too early, as you haven’t had your surgical consult yet.

I guess just keep us posted, Vader.

Good to hear it’s not a major tear![/quote]

I’m really unsure. I’d like my shoulder to feel normal again and have the ability to do ‘regular’ exercises again, but then again, those regular exercises are probably what hurt the shoulder in the first place. Still, the peace of mind would be good.

The other major concern is the recovery time. I’m not sure if this is accurate, but the Ortho said it would be about 3 months before I could even lift again. Considering that I’m still trying to get back in shape from all of the other issues that have caused me to not be able to train for a while, I’m not really prepared to have another set back so soon and get out of shape again.

I’ve read a lot of the threads here about surgery for labral tears and the consensus seems to be that if you can get away with physical therapy and the pain is manageable, then that’s the better option. If the pain is such that you can barely move the arm anymore or it prevents you from sleeping, etc. then you get the surgery.

I think the plan is to just try to take it as far as I can with physical therapy and exercise modification. Get back in shape, get everything else healthy and see how I feel. Provided I don’t make it worse, I’ll re-evaluate around November or schedule the surgery for then. I figure if I’m going to have to take a few months off from the gym, it might as well be during the winter.